


Being Max

by Deijnar



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Eventual Romance, Fluff, Friendship, Humor, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-25
Updated: 2018-03-28
Packaged: 2019-04-08 02:51:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,487
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14095503
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Deijnar/pseuds/Deijnar
Summary: 7 One-Shots starring the adorable genius that is Max Kanté and his underappreciated classmates





	1. Day 1 - Bad Grade

**Author's Note:**

> This is my contribution to Max Appreciation Week 2018 run by wearemiraculous on Tumblr (wearemiraculous.tumblr.com)!

Even though they'd been in the same class for 2 years now and he considered her something that came close to a friend Max didn't know Rose too well. Of course he was aware of the stuff everybody knew, how generous and cute she was and that she was nice and fun to be around. So he also knew that such an innocent and kind-hearted girl shouldn't be hiding in the library while crying her eyes out.

Seeing her like that just didn’t seem right. She was supposed to be cheerful and happy, infecting the people around her with her joy. So everything inside of Max felt the urge to help, the urge to go there and soothe and somehow comfort her to right this error. In fact she had done it for nearly all their classmates at least once, even for Chloé, so it was just logical to give something back to her, wasn’t it?

But how could he help her? He just didn't know. What should he say? How should he behave in the first place?

Apparently Max realized that Kim’s tutoring in interpersonal communication hadn’t been too successful and that he still didn’t have the empathy that was needed to comfort a troubled person properly.

'Just try to be a good friend by being there' he thought to himself, took a deep breath and adjusted his glasses before walking up to the section for romance novels Rose was hiding behind. At least it took an action to get a reaction, right?

Still thinking about the right thing to say he suddenly stood in front of her as she looked up to him in surprise and blinked through her blur of tears unbelievingly. 

He had been too hasty. He had no plan! What had he been thinking? 

To be honest he had expected himself to come up with a solution much earlier. 

Unfortunately he had to say something nevertheless. Now.

"Uhm, so... Do you want to talk?" he asked after some moments of awkward fidgeting and avoiding her eyes. In this short amount of time he had given himself due to poor calculation he couldn’t come up with anything better. Pathetic in his opinion since nearly everything seemed to be a more promising choice than what he just had said.

To his surprise and relieve Rose seemed to appreciate that he was at least trying and smiled a little. Probably she would have been thankful for any act of kindness in her state, no matter how wimpy it may be.

"That's very nice of you." She still had a husky voice and coughed before she wiped away her tears. "But talking won't change my failed math test" she whispered and looked at the crinkled paper she held in her hands that Max hadn’t recognized earlier. It was impossible to read what she’d wrote but the big red F on top of the sheet was conspicuous.

"You failed? How could anyone fail that one it has been so e-" midsentence he realized that what he intended to say was not helpful at all and the uprising shame in her wide eyes reassured him about this.

"I- I mean I'm sure it's not that bad. You can still catch up and do better on the next test!" he corrected himself quickly. Perhaps it wasn’t the optimal choice of words but still he was quite satisfied with his second attempt. Confident he gave her an encouraging smile but against his presumption she just looked to the ground, still gloomy.

"Thanks for trying to cheer me up but it's far too late for me to catch up on my own. It's my own fault! I've just been too caught up in this dating mission thing that Marin-" suddenly Rose interrupted herself by putting her hands on her mouth. With a panicked expression she looked around but relaxed as soon as she was sure that except for the two of them no one was around.

Warily Max crocked an eyebrow but decided that her slip of the tongue wasn't worth paying attention to right now. The important thing was that he could help her and that he was willing to do so.

“Well, no one said you have to do it on your own. In fact I was just about to start studying, would you like to join me?” His awkward smile grew to a genuine one as he saw the hope in her big blue eyes.

“That would be super great Max, thank you! But…” The excitement in her voice ebbed away and she timidly looked down at her small feet “I don’t want to bother or burden you in any way. I’m sure I’ll be fine. I may have been a little dramatic back there.” Nervously she giggled and even Max knew immediately that she hadn’t been overdramatizing at all, it didn’t suit her anyway.

“Come on, it’ll be fun! And I mean, two people mean twice the outcome, right? Am I doing the math right here?” he asked and felt horrible right after he made such a terrible ‘joke’ but the disgust vanished thanks to Rose’s chuckle, truly joyful this time. Thankfully she smiled at him.

“So you’re sure it’s ok if I join you?” The gratitude and anticipation in her voice as well as in her eyes warmed his heart. Determined he reached out his hand and his smile grew even wider.

“I’m one hundred percent positive.”


	2. Day 2 - Hero/Villain

Terrified Max looked up at the enormous Transformer-like robot in front of him. No matter how much he trusted in Ladybug’s and Chat Noir’s competence he knew what his little friend was capable of, he’d been the one giving him all his skills after all, and in combination with the power Hawk Moth had given Markov he speculated that he could beat them easily. 

Secretly he was extremely proud. Also he couldn’t suppress the conception of Gamer and Robustus working together. No one could ever stop them.

Vehemently he shook his head. What had come over him? Aside from simply being the right thing to do being on the good side had a way higher chance to be successful. Not only in media had the quantity of the good guys winning outnumbered the victories of the bad guys also in Paris it proved well-founded. So far it add up to 30 to 0 for Ladybug and Chat Noir against Hawk Moth (yes, he kept track). Suddenly his thoughts were interrupted.

“Max, my friend!” 

The strangely raucous voice of Markov echoed over the courtyard as Max watched the robot reaching out his right claw in horror. Panicking he looked around for a place to seek shelter and to his left he spotted Ms. Mendeleiev. A teacher! She was a person of authority and for Max that meant protection.

Intuitively he ran up to her and she tried to shield him with her arms but unfortunately the claw just grabbed both of them. After inspecting his catch Markov picked Ms. Mendeleiev up with his other claw while dropping Max on the car seat next to him.

“Markov, what are you doing?!” Max faced his akumatized friend, startled. That was not a behavior he had programmed!

“From now on I am Robustus!” the little robot answered as Max got tied up by his seat belt and a helmet was placed on his head. ‘At least he didn’t lose his sense for safety arrangements’, he thought to himself kind of relieved but the next words of the villain destroyed all of his hope for common sense left on his processor.

“And we shall be together one hundred percent of the time. Forever!”

In shock he looked at his own creation he had lost all control over. Of course he’d always given Markov his free will but he never imagined something as unplanned as this would happen. 

Nevertheless he had no time to get angry with Hawk Moth and his newest intervention because the claw that still held his science teacher whirled around, threatening to let go of her. Strangely enough that seemed to be exactly what Ms. Mendeleiev wanted.

“Let me go!” she screamed, rather angry than scared. She really must be misinterpreting the situation she currently found herself in. “Max, control your robot!” she added in a commanding tone and jolted her student out of his paralysis. 

“Please, don’t do anything foolish!” he begged Markov desperately. What if they took him away from him permanently after this incident? No matter what his teachers thought, that robot was his friend and he wasn’t willing to lose him!

“You must trust me, my friend” was all Robustus answered while hanging the angry woman up to the rooftop.

“You cannot do this!” she complained furiously, still not worried for her own life even though that would have been the appropriate reaction in Max’ opinion.

“And you can’t separate me from my friend Max!” the akuma answered and watched her falling to the ground without taking action to safe her. 

On one hand Max was more than bewildered that his beloved friend got so cold-hearted that he didn’t even care if someone lost their life due to his actions but on the other hand it somehow touched him that he continued to care so much for him and their friendship. Still this was not an acceptable state of affairs.

Frantically he tried to come up with a solution for this precarious situation but he only had seconds until his teacher would hit the ground. The panic inside of him rose to an unbearable level but just at the perfect moment Ladybug appeared, twirled her yo-yo around the falling woman and saved another life.

Unfortunately the Markov-problem wasn’t solved like this and while Ladybug and Chat Noir unsuccessfully tried to argue with Robustus Max only heard a weird numb noise in his ear. He just stared at the scenery in front of him without hearing anything the people around him said. 

What was the right thing to do?

For some unexplainable reason Ladybug’s words suddenly became clearly audible and hit him.

“Do you really think Max is happy about his best friend becoming a super villain?” she asked, causing Robustus to stop in his tracks. Slowly he turned around to look at Max with the big, innocent eyes he had chosen for him all these weeks ago. 

“You should stop that Markov!” he agreed with the heroine and hoped that their words would be effective enough to cause a restart of his robot’s emotions.

“I’m doing it for our friendship, Max. They wanna keep us apart!” he answered with a crying animation on his screen that gave Max heartache. In that moment he realized how desperate and afraid his friend must be. If they were separated Max would be sad of course but he would still have his human friends and classmates while Markov would be all on his own. Unaccepted, chased away and lonely.

Before he could comfort his friend and tell him that he wouldn’t allow that to happen Chat Noir attacked and requisitioned all of Robustus attention.

Worryingly Max looked down at the two superheroes as they flew across the field just to be hurled back. On the sideline he spotted Alya filming the whole thing and apparently she held her camera up to the sky, gaping. Afraid he followed her gaze just to see the heroes of Paris being thrown over the building.

That did not go too well.

Suddenly the transformer-robot jumped to the other side of the building too and Max couldn’t help himself but be impressed. Aside from the overall suboptimal circumstances he witnessed pretty interesting and sensational technology.

Given to the enormous speed of the robot Max barely recognized what happened outside but he trusted Ladybug in Chat Noir to take care of it and decided to focus on Markov instead.

“Why are you doing this Markov? Please let’s talk about this first! You should know that you have to calculate all the risks before starting a project like this. If you’ll go on like this you will fail” he tried to talk sense into him but the robot barely reacted.

“Max, this activity requires all my attention. As soon as I’ve succeeded we have all the time in the world to talk but not now.”

Outside Max hear people screaming and weird metallic noises he couldn’t match and that were distracting him from coming up with a plan.

At some point they stopped and seemed to shrink but he had no idea what was going on. Then he spotted the heroes in front of them realizing that Robustus prepared to attack them.

Everything happened so fast that he hardly saw what happened but apparently Robustus had them in his grip. It all depended on Max now.

“Ladybug and Chat Noir haven’t done you any wrong. Let them go! Being human also means being fair!” Facts. Maybe he could convince him with irrefutable facts. If they couldn’t help he didn’t know what else would.

“I’m gonna take over their Miraculous so we’ll never be separated again!” Markov exclaimed confidently. “Then I’ll be able to make my wish come true!” 

Max paused for a moment. “What wish?” he asked for these crucial information.

“I want to be a real human like you Max.”

Astonished Max looked at his best friend. Why didn’t he think about that? How was it possible that he hadn’t seen it until now? It was his fault. He was the one who programmed Markov’s entire AI and he did not eliminate the wish to be human. He’d caused his friend much pain without even realizing it.

Robustus excited voice brought him back to reality but the nasty feel of guilt lasted on him.

“Look Max, I’ll be a real human in 53 seconds!”

Shocked he looked outside and saw little cranes heading to Ladybug and Chat Noir, obviously aiming for their Miraculous. He had to do something instantly!

“Then how do you intend to stop me from using them?” Robustus asked into the silence and Max realized that he wasn’t talking to him any longer and was distracted by his argument with Hawk Moth. That was his chance to take action. 

Carefully not to cause any noises he climbed out of the car without catching the akuma’s attention. So far so good but he still was powerless. Everything he had was his bag. Wait…

Due to a lack of alternatives Max threw his backpack at the tiny excavators surrounding the heroes and actually hit them perfectly to his own surprise. But he had no time to celebrate because all he wanted to do was get off this impressive nevertheless dangerous creation.

“Max?” he heard Robustus voice above him.

“Sorry Robustus but I can’t let you execute your program! I have to stop you” he explained knowing that it was best for Markov too no matter how confused he was right now. So he took control over the huge robot and pulled the lever to free Chat Noir and Ladybug.

“But… why did you do that? I was gonna become human like you!” the robot asked in disbelief.

Without hesitation Max answered from the bottom of his heart: “I don’t want you to change, I want you to be like you were before!”

Sadly his words didn’t cause the reaction he had wished for. “Don’t you love me anymore? Aren’t we friends?” The anger and disappointment in Robustus’ voice was unmistakable and Max got afraid that he just made everything worse. So he decided to try something different.

“If you want us to remain friends you got to stop this right now! I’m friends with Markov, not you!” he yelled and he meant it. All he wanted was to get his smart and polite companion back, not this aggressive, impulsive and unreasonable fighting machine!

“I’m Robustus now and you betrayed me! I don’t wanna be human like you anymore. Humans don’t have a heart!” Out of nowhere Max got tied up again, much tighter this time. He could barely breath let alone speak up. “And that’s exactly why I decided to get rid of them! Muhahaha!”

It seemed he’d failed miserably. There he was, unable to move and at a loss of words. At least he freed the only people who could stop Markov at this point.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw how Ladybug got her Lucky Charm but the sudden movement of the robot caused him to assume that it did not work out the way she intended it to. Nervously Max bit his lip and tried to see what was happening as the walls around him began to scrunch and crumbled in a flash.

Inexorably he plunged to the ground and screamed in horror. For the first time in his life his mind was completely blank.

But then he landed in Chat Noir’s arms. “I didn’t know that even boys are falling for me” he said with a smirk and safely placed him on the ground. Too tired to react to this horrible joke in any way Max looked around in search of Markov. He spotted him in Ladybug’s hands as she was doing her thing with her yo-yo Max hadn’t fully seen through up to this day.

After she finished she came up to them. “Here’s your friend” she said as she handed him Markov in his beautiful blue design Max knew and loved. 

But the screen was all black. Should he really do it? Was it right to turn him on again? He had to consider all possibilities and circumstances since he didn’t want to be responsible for a catastrophe with a less successful outcome.

“Perhaps it’s best if I don’t” he voiced his concerns but couldn’t stop looking at the small creature in his hands.

“Everyone can feel negative emotions from time to time. It’s important to accept that and forgive. Follow your heart.” 

Ladybug’s kind words washed away all of his fears. He wouldn’t leave Markov behind!

Without any further hesitation Max turned his robot around and pressed the little button on the back of his head. Patiently he waited for him to restart and after a few seconds a well-known pair of eyes blinked at him in confusion.

“Max, my friend! Whe- where are we? What’s going on?” Markov asked and Max was relieved that he hadn’t lost his memory or his thirst for knowledge.

“You were akumatized” he began to explain but before he could go on the robot already asked an interposed question.

“Akumatized? Could you please define that word?”

Relieved and happy to finally having his curious friend back Max laughed and Chat Noir and Ladybug laughed with him. 

“Did I say something funny?” Markov wondered while the heroes decided to leave them alone.

“No, you didn’t. We’re just happy above average that you’re back to your normal safe. I’m happy you’re back to normal” he explained with a genuine smile and sighed. Just now he realized how tense he had been.

“But… what-what happened?” the robot asked again as the sound crackled and the screen flickered. He must be at low battery.

“I feel so exhausted… I’ll change into the non-operating state if that’s ok for you? You can tell me everything later” Markov requested sleepy.

“Of course my friend. I’ll charge you as soon as I’m home” Max promised and smiled at the robot in his hands where he was safe and comfortable.

“Thank you so much Max. I can always count on you” Markov said gratefully before shutting down.

Carefully Max placed him inside of his back and wanted to head home straightaway but then he saw Kim approaching him from the entrance of the stadium.

“Max! You got me worried there for a sec. Are you ok?” he asked as soon as he got within earshot.

“Yes, I’m one hundred percent fine, no need to worry” Max assured his friend and beamed at him. It was a matter of fact that he had the best friends in all of Paris.

Kim grinned back. “Glad to hear that.” Suddenly he spotted the robot inside of Max’ bag he was still holding in front of him and his expression darkened. “You don’t like him better than me, do you?” he pouted, arms crossed.

“What?” Max asked confused, looking from Kim to Markov and back.

“Well, he called you his best friend quite often and so did you and I don’t know. I thought I was your best friend y’know” Kim shrugged and looked away.

Suppressing laughter at Kim’s offended and childish manner Max realized something. “You know, I already heard of the phenomenon that people adopt the behavior of the person they like but you really shouldn’t imitate Chloé. It doesn’t suit you.” This time he couldn’t hold back at least a huge grin.

“Dude! I’m not…” looking down at himself Kim recognized the pose he was in did indeed resemble Chloé and straightened up immediately. “Don’t change the subject, nerd!” he hissed and pointed at Max threateningly but his counterpart just smiled.

“Relax bro. Markov feels more like a little brother to me, you’re still my best friend ok? Also I can have more than only one best friend” he reassured his embarrassed classmate who’d struggled enough already. Kim’s eyes widened.

“Did you just say that? Did you call me ‘bro’? For real?” he asked disbelievingly and Max’ smile turned into a grin again.

“You could call it an experiment. I wanted to rejoice you by adopting one of your usual terms” he explained while adjusting his glasses, completely being his old self again.

“Experiment successfully completed” Kim said laughing as he threw an arm around his best friend’s shoulders. “Let’s grab something to eat, I’m starving!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my, I surely didn't plan it to end up THIS long. I hope you still enjoy it, I tried to be as accurate about the episode as possible :)


	3. Day 3 - Favorite Ship

“For goodness’ sake I just want the two of them to start dating already!” Alix groaned and glared at Marinette and Adrien chatting rather awkwardly in the hallway.

Rose sitting on her desk behind her chuckled amused. “In that case you’re a shipper” she stated and Alix turned around witch an arched eyebrow.

“I’m a what now?”

“According to my information a ‘shipper’” Max drew quotation marks into the air “is someone who’s hoping for specific persons to end up together in a romantic way. Actually I thought it just referred to fictional characters but apparently it seems to apply in real life too” he concluded fascinated. It was not often that he was proved wrong but he was quite sure that Rose knew best what she was talking about. Other than himself he considered her an expert on the field of feelings.

But she just shrugged it off. “Pff, no one can tell me whether I can ship something or not! I want all of my friends to find true love because everyone deserves it. And if they can’t find it on their own I’ll do it for them!” she said almost aggressive and frightening but after she’d finished her sentence she started to smile like a little angle again.

Interested Alix turned around completely. “So you’re saying that you ‘ship’” she drew quotation marks into the air too “other people as well?”

“Of course!” Rose answered immediately as if it was perfectly normal. “In fact I ship nearly everyone with someone else” she added complacent.

“Uhhh, tell me about your speculations! C’mon, spit it out!” Alix got a little too excited there and Max suspected that she would take a mischievous pleasure in some of the unusual pairings but Rose in all her naiveté told her gladly.

“Sure! These two right there” she pointed to their left “are my all-time favorites.”

Confused Alix stared at them. “But Alya and Nino already are a couple” she objected uncomprehending.

“So what? I already shipped them before they became canon and why should I stop now?” Rose asked in return and Alix looked at her even more mystified.

“Before they what?” she asked and Max couldn’t hold back his laughter. Rarely or never before had he witnessed such a surreal conversation.

“I guess you would refer to it as becoming an actual item” he explained to her after regaining his countenance.

“Oh, okay. But can you still ship people who in fact are in a relationship?” she asked, seemingly thinking very intently about the subject. “I don’t think it makes sense.”

“Sure you can” Rose resolved as Juleka who stood behind her shook her head in disbelief.

“I can’t believe we’re seriously discussing this” she mumbled to herself while an intense debate flared up between the other two girls.

“Hey guys, what are you talking about?” Kim asked in a cheerful tone and joined them, unaware about the mess he just threw himself in.

“Ships” Max simply answered, being intrigued by the argument happening in front of him. To him it was absolutely fascinating how people could get all worked up about such an insignificant matter.

“I have no idea why you’re talking about stuff like that but man I do love ships!” Kim said surprised but with an excited shimmer in his eyes.

“I doubt you’re talking about the same ships here” Juleka noted and he gave her a puzzled look. Unfortunately before he could ask her what she was talking about he got cut short by Alix’ impressed whistle.

“I didn’t know you were so serious about this” she said as she thoughtfully nodded at her counterpart. 

“Love is important!” Rose answered and began to recite myriads of reasons why true love would change all their lives for the better.

Resigned Max accepted that the occurrence of interest was over and turned to finally face his best friend. “I could elucidate the previous discussion to you but as a matter of fact I don’t think you’d be interested in it at all” he offered but Kim just put an arm around his shoulders as usually and beamed down at him.

“Nah, I’m good. If you say it’s lame I trust you completely” he refused and Max smiled back at him. The information that Kim trusted him made him unexpectedly happy and he was unable to name the trigger of his suddenly oddly beating heart. There couldn’t be a connection, right? It wouldn’t make any sense. Not at all. It would be one hundred percent illogical.

Oh no, he got nervous. Again.

“Can they be considered a ship?” Alix’ voice interrupted their nice friendship moment as well as Max’ chain of thoughts and he quickly looked to the ground to hide his furious blush. That was a ridiculous assumption!

“That’s for sure. I for one am waiting for them to take the next step for weeks already.” The frustration in Rose’s voice was clearly noticeable.

“Huh?” Kim asked not exactly ingenious, his arm still on Max’ shoulders while he looked at Alix’ devilish grin in concern. 

The burning embarrassment on Max’ face prevented him from being proud about his earlier hypothesis regarding her intentions being proved right. All these thoughts and feelings that crushed down on him all of a sudden hit him unprepared and he just wanted to escape the situation. Forcefully he stared to the ground in front of him but Rose’s giggle and an amused snort from Juleka raised the unpleasantness to an unbearable level and even made him hide his face behind his hands. What was up with him?

“Can someone please explain to me what the hell is going on?!” Kim demanded and protectively pulled the boy in his arm closer unconsciously.

Maybe Max’ current situation wasn’t that bad after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not my best work but I have an exam tomorrow so... sorry for that :D I think it's still fine and hope you like it too :)


	4. Day 4 - Gaming

After school Max packed his bag and got ready to head home immediately because he wanted to get his homework done as soon as possible. But in front of the school gate Nathaniel approached him timidly and foiled his plan.

"Uhm, hey Max. May I... ask you a favor?" he asked quietly and looked to the ground. Nevertheless Max could still see his blushed cheeks.

"If it's a proper request yes, of course" he answered with an encouraging smile as he strapped his backpack on. "What can I do for you?"

Nathaniel's blush intensified and he barely managed to look into Max' eyes. "You... uhm. You're quiet good at this video game Mari- Marinette likes so much, aren't you?"

Proudly Max adjusted his glasses. "I sure am. And it's called Ultimate Mecha Strike III by the way" he added.

With a lopsided smile Nathaniel finally looked at him. "Would you teach me a thing or two about it? I would love to play it with... all you guys" he propounded his wish and Max' smile grew to a bright beam.

"Sure thing! I wanted to practice anyways after finishing homework today but I can easily adjust my shedule."

Nathaniel's eyes widened in surprise. "You mean, like, right here and now?" he asked taken by surprise and maybe even a little afraid.

"Well, the school provides a great screen and a console in the library. It would be most effective to stay here instead of heading to my home or even postpone a meeting unnecessarily" Max reasond but in fact it was just an excuses. He simply really wanted to play the game.

"Uh, ok, sure!" Still a little insecure but also kind of excited Nathaniel followed his classmate up the stairs into the library.

With a grin Max handed him a controller and started the game. "Do you know the basics?" he asked while chosing a character and skipping through the levels to find an appropriate combination for a beginner.

"I think I'm holding such a thing" Nathaniel raised his controller "for the very first time in my entire life."

An eager expression appeared on Max' face and he started to genuinely enjoy this unexpected activity. "In that case this is going to be an interesting process!" he said in delight.

For a few minutes they fully concentrated on the game and Max stood down until Nathaniel got used to the basics which happened rather quickly. In fact his skill and learning ability was quite impressive.

They were in the middle of their first serious fight as the door behind them opened.

"Awesome! Hey guys, mind if I join?" uncommonly euphoric Juleka rushed to their sides. Enthusiasticly her eyes followed every movement happening on the screen while she sat down between them.

"That's fine with me" Max answered, still smashing the buttons.

"What?" indignantly Nathaniel raised a complaint. "We're in the midst of something here!"

"Not anymore" his opponent disagreed and performed the crucial smash.

Player 1 wins!

"Not bad for you first round!" he encouraged Nathaniel and handed his controller to Juleka. "Let's see if you can beat her."

"Oho, I don't think he can" she said self-assured, took the controller and fixed her eyes on the screen. "Ready, red-head?"

"Ready as I'll ever be" Nathaniel answered pugnaciously and turned to the TV again.

It was the start of an intense, long and thrilling battle. Apparently the two of them seemed to be on the same level as they tried to achieve the best combos and trick the other to think themselves safe to attack from an ambush.

Sometimes they yelled at each other in frustration but they also joked around and at one point they had to pause the game because all three of them where convulsed with laughter.

Even though he wasn't playing himself Max had a lot of fun just watching the two of them coming up with original strategies and getting better with every match. Sometimes he even noted some aspects he might include into his own style of playing.

After two hours, five rematches and three wins for both of them they had to stop due to Juleka's hand started to have convulsions.

"Thanks so much guys. I really needed that today" Juleka sighed with a smile while massaging her hand.

"Yeah, it was so much fun! We should definetly do that again!" Nathaniel added joyfully and Max nodded to.

And then he had a sudden flash of genius.

"You know, there's going to be a group tournament in a few weeks and I still lack of a team. Are you interested?"

"Yes!" Juleka exclaimed without a second of hesitation and jumped to her feet. "Please say yes Nathaniel!" she begged and turned around to her unconfident classmate.

"You really think I'm good enough?" he wondered doubtfully and she nodded vehemently.

"You just proved it! Come on, it's going to be fun!"

A careful smile played around Nathaniel's lips. "Yeah. You know what? Let's do this!" he decided spirited and reached out his hand.

With a bright smile Juleka placed her hand on his. "We'll be invincible!"

They both turned their heads to face Max who grinned at them. "I'm positive this is the beginning of a triumphant affiliation" he predicted and placed his hand on top of his new companion's.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this whole thing on my phone. I hope it doesn't show too much :D


End file.
